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Thankful for a Summer Date with Mike...  in November When I mapped out my blog posts through the end of the year, I simply wrote “Thankful” on my calendar for this week. I even considered reposting one of my Thanksgiving memories from years past.  I have much for which to be thankful.   Mostly, I am thankful God came to earth to die on a cross for  ME .  Well, for you, too, if you accept His gracious offering.  And I am thankful for my family here and away. I am thankful for…the list could exceed my word count, so I’ll get right to business. This holiday I want to share with my readers how thankful I am for a man named Mike. My husband. I have often shared Mike is a good man. It’s true.  Last week, Mike and I took a little day trip south of Tampa. It was initially to be an errand but turned into a date. I love those kinds of moments.  Manatee Viewing Center at TECO's Big Bend Station in Apollo Beach, FL Our errand took us near the plant where Mike...

  Check One Off the Bucket List…Sort Of… Last week I shared that Mike and I were scratching something off our “Bucket List.” If you read that post you know we already addressed our desire to relive our teen years by eating at the original Frisch’s Big Boy Restaurant. There were a few more items on that list, including  ·        Visiting the Corvette Museum in Kentucky ·        Taking in the Kentucky Horse Park, also in Kentucky ·        Visiting the Dry Tortugas about 70 miles off of Key West ·        Taking a Trip to Alaska Well, we did it! We checked off one of those items and loved it! We visited Fort Jefferson located in the Dry Tortugas. AND IT WAS WONDERFUL . Fort Jefferson was established as a fort, a point of protection, yes, but served as a prison during the Civil War. I first became intrigued with the history of the place when I encountered the stor...

  Celebrate November with a Bit of Adventure When Mike and I started dating, we talked about items on our respective bucket lists. We’ve both traveled a bit. We’ve both been out of the country, but there is a lot of this country we haven’t seen.  I had a list of places in Ohio to show Mike. He had places in Florida I’d never seen. And there was a lot to see in between. We pretty much decided without saying a word, that our life together would be fun. Adventurous. In Ohio, we lunched at the original Frisch’s restaurant. That was a treat. Don’t laugh. Frisch’s was a big part of our teen life. We not only lunched there but also had a long conversation with our hostess who started working for the company as a car hop back in the day.  Between Ohio and Florida is the Kentucky Horse Park and the  Corvette Museum . Both made the list. “I’ve always wanted to see  Alaska, ” he told me. “Me too!” We chatted about what we knew of such a trip and shared information we’d g...

  Six Gun Territory Revisited Some of my Florida friends and family remember Six Gun Territory in Ocala. The popular tourist attraction featured a western town complete with typical wild west storefronts and gunfights in the street. This was before Disney seemingly took over the theme park venture in the Sunshine State. Sheriff at Six Gun As a teen, I had the opportunity to visit Six Gun Territory many times. When friends or family came to town, I would go with them to enjoy the wild west experience.  I remember the day I was there with two younger cousins. We stood in line to get the autograph of Tommy Norden who played “Bud Ricks” on the popular show,  Flipper . Tommy…or Bud, as I knew him on television, was a year older than me. We were both in our teens. He signed a photo of him with Flipper for each of us.  Then…he asked me if I wanted to get a cola with him. There were only a couple of people left in line. I know I grinned. Though most of the teens I knew had a...